I’ve never been to an Indian restaurant, neither I’ve eaten or cooked any Indian food… even though I’ve always been eager to try it out one day. I’ve been delaying that day a bit, partly because a) I first wanted to get myself a decent Indian cookbook to learn the basics of Indian cuisine, and b) partly because I always worry what would my fellow eater think about a new taste on his plate. Luckily his trust into my cooking skills has increased fairly through time, and he shows a great tolerance (and patience) regarding my kitchen experiments. (Luckily for me, because I’d die if I had to cook the same food over and over again – have had enough of that when living at home for twenty-something years.)

From our last trip I brought a cookbook about Indian curries and I was really looking forward to cook my first Indian dish. The first one I chose from the book was called Parsi curry, a chicken curry of red color, originating from one Parsi family from Mumbai. I only omitted 2 ingredients that I couldn’t find anywhere: tamarind (also called: Indian date) and Kashmir chilies (I used home-grown chilies instead). I halved the ingredients and was being a bit too cautious about the spice amount – for any case. The dish was lovely, not at all too spicy, and while cooking, it filled the kitchen with a beautiful palette of aromas we’ve not been familiar with before.

Garam masala, consisting of: cumin, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, coriander, black pepper and bay leaf

PARSI CURRY
(adapted from Camellia Panjabi’s 50 great curries of India)
-serves 2-

2 dried (or fresh) red chilies (the recipe called for 10 Kashmir ones which are much smaller than the ones I used – however, next time I will use 3 or 4)
20g shredded and desiccated coconut
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
2 cloves
4 black peppercorns
2cm long cinnamon stick
3 green cardamoms
1 piece of fresh ginger, 1x1cm, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 small onion (I used a red one), peeled and chopped
a few tablespoons oil (I used olive oil – I know, olive oil doesn’t have anything to do with Indian food… next time I’ll get myself some ghee, promise!)
400g chicken breast, deboned and sliced up in medium-sized chunks
150ml tomato purée (the recipe called for fresh tomato which I don’t purchase in wintertime for obvious reasons)
400ml coconut milk
150ml home-made chicken stock (my addition)
a generous pinch of sea salt
1/4 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp cane sugar

Red onion gives the spicy paste a gentle violet color

1. Run coconut, cumin, coriander and sesame seeds, cloves, peppercorns, cardamoms and cinnamon stick in a coffee grinder. The ideal would be to mix it together with garlic, onion and ginger too, but since the recipe calls for adding some water when grinding these spices -and water really shouldn’t get any close to a coffee grinder- I first ground the dry spices.
2. Using a blender, mix together the spicy coconut mix, chopped garlic, onion and ginger by adding a few tablespoons of water, until you obtain a smooth paste. If you’re a chili fan, don’t hesitate to include the chilies – I preferred them whole, cooking together with the meat.
3. Heat some oil in a skillet, add the spicy paste and sautée for 5′. Add the chicken chunks and sautée for another 5′. Now add the tomato puréea and salt and sautée for 5′ more. (Stir well each time after adding a new ingredient.)
4. Pour in the chicken stock, coconut milk and let cook until the meat is tender. Just before it’s done, sprinkle with sugar and garam masala. Serve over cooked rice.

Parsi chicken curry, my way